Is there such thing as putting a nanny contract on hold? Wwyd?

[NannyNorthLlondon]

I will give you a bit of background here so you can understand the situation . I had a skying accident a few years ago in which my ankle was fractured. The fracture did not heal properly and 3 years ago I started to have pain and have both of my ankles swollen . At the time I didn't blame it on the fracture and after a few visits to the Gp the conclusion was that I had water retention . However the pain got really bad in the last months of 2012 and when I went for Christmas holiday in my home country I had a Ct scan that showed 3 fractures. Unfortunetally I will need to have surgery to fix that.
The problem lays here : in December my old nanny position came to an end so I found another position in November and signed a contract then for a January start.( at the time I was not aware of the surgery)
On my first day of work I told my employer that I will need to have the surgery done and we agreed that I can have it done in march when they will have holiday for 2 weeks . 2 weeks are not enough for recovery , it can take from 6 to 12 weeks .
I understand its not an ideal situation and I feel guilty for having to take time of, I am also worried about my health but I think they are trying to play a game with me.
On Friday they said that they will still like me to come back after the surgery whenever I feel ready but they want to put the contract on hold and restart it when I am ready. I will receive a notice letter in the following weeks.
I don't think they do actually want me to come back and they are running away from paying SSP .
If you were in my position will you believe that the job will still be there when you don't have any contract or letter on hand?
Also if it turns out that I won't go back what should I put on my Cv ? Just say that I had surgery or say about this 3 month position?
I told them that I will understand if they don't want to continue having me as their nanny but I would rather have them say it then let me hang on to the ideea that the job will still be mine.
Long post, thank you for reading and for any advice.

They could give you notice to leave I suspect.
What do they mean by put on hold? Reduce it to a zero hour contract perhaps?

I am not sure what they mean. I guess it depends how are they going to formulate the letter.
That's exactly what I suspect..... A notice letter with no warranty that the job will be mine .

Will they be hiring another nanny to cover whilst you are off?

It may well be that they need someone else, and therefore have been advised to terminate your employment as you are currently unfit to do the job, so that they can hire somebody else to do it.

They might hire someone temporarily, while you are off, and then have you back when you are able - but as you said, I doubt you'd have a legal standing there unless you could say exactly when you would be back at work and had a new contract drawn up with that as a start date.

They have been vague about what they will do , combining help from parents and something temporary but not saying " temporary nanny"

Try posting in Employment Matters about taking long term sick leave having just started in a new job.
The people who post in that part of mumsnet may be able to guive guidance as to what rights you have and what sick leave and SSP arrangements typically are in this sort of case.

nannynick I suspect they don't want to pay the SSP thus decided to terminate the contract/ put it on hold.

Do they know that they can claim back the SSP from HMRC?

I think they know. It's awkward to ask them " are you avoiding paying sick leave" when I don't know exactly what are their plans.
I am sure the payroll company will let them know they can claim it back even if they don't know.

Well when they tell you to use your two weeks holiday you could say "actually I think it should be sick pay which is good for you as that's funded by the government"

Oh but I will not get 2 weeks of holidays anymore . I will only get 5.4 days that will add up by then . That's what made me think they are getting rid of me without saying it.

Ah - so they are terminating your contract rather than putting on hold?

I doubt there is anything you can do to stop them tbh, you don't really have unfair dismissal rights until you've been employed for two years (I think - it went up from one year recently)

I suspect they haven't taken any advice on this and are somewhat feeling their way and don't seem to appreciate you can't put a permanent (yes?) employment situation on hold in the way you can say a gym membership.

I have to say that I have some sympathy with them. Whilst the situation isn't of your making, finding out on the first day your nanny starts that they are going to need 6-12 weeks off sick beginning two months after starting is very much less than ideal.

AndBingo the job was permanent . I know it's not an ideal situation and I somehow feel guilty but if they consider on having another nanny I would want to know so that when I am ready I can search for a new position . I think I will have to do that just to be on the safe side and I expect them to tell me know ASAP if the position will be filled by somebody else.

In case all this goes downhill should I have it on my CV? I don't think I will be in a position to ask for reference so I think I shouldn't ...

Ceeveebee on Friday the conversation was like this " we will like to put the contract on hold and you let us know one week before you are ready to come back" and then " I guess we are going to have to write a letter" and also " we need to calculate how much holiday you will have until 15 March "

It sounds very murky.

Do you have professional insurance with legal cover? If so, call them.

Call ACAS for precise advice as well. This is obviously a less than ideal situation for both parties but given that they've put the time and effort into recruiting you I wouldn't cut your losses just yet.